Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the game
In the game, you play as a character from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Your goal is to travel as fast as possible through this fantastic world, scoring as many points as possible from tasty cookies, before you run out of time.
Box contents
- 1 game board
- 1 spinner
- 24 large cookies (6 × 2; 6 × 3; 6 × 4; 6 × 5)
- 20 small cookies (20 × 1)
- 44 cards (11 × 4 player colors): 2 × 1; 2 × 2; 2 × 3; 2 × 4; 2 × 5; 1 × Joker
- 4 small pawns
- 4 large pawns
- 8 pawn bases
- 4 covers for large pawn bases
Game preparation
Before the first game, turn the board over. On the back are assembly instructions for individual components. Place the covers onto the 4 large pawn bases. Slide all small and large pawns into their bases. Attach the spinner to the board.
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Insert the board with the attached spinner into the bottom of the box (as shown in the drawing on the back of the board). Place the prepared box in the middle of the table in reach of everyone. The spinner can point in any direction now.
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Depending on the number of players, take the appropriate number of large cookies and mix them face down. (Put unused cookies aside - they won't be used in the game.)
- 4 players – use all large cookies
- 3 players – remove 1 large cookie of each value
- 2 players – remove 2 large cookies of each value
Stack them in a face-down pile near the board, near the pink Hatter's Tea Party space. Turn the top cookie face up and place it nearby.
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Place all the small cookies near the board, beside the Small Cookies place.
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Each player chooses their character and takes the large pawn and the small pawn with their image. The small pawns go on the Hatter's Tea Party space; each large pawn goes on the table in front of its owner.
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Each player takes their character's 11 cards, shuffles them, and places them in a face-down pile. This is the player's draw pile. Each player draws 3 cards from their own draw pile to their hand, not showing them to other players.
Important: A player must hold their cards in their hand in the same order that they were drawn! Players cannot rearrange their cards or sort them by value, etc. Example: Lucy drew card 3, then card 4, and then card 2, so she holds them in this order in her hand.
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After reading the instructions, place them on the table with the last page visible, which shows short descriptions of the special spaces.
Example of a game set up for 3 players (illustration)
Sequence of play
The starting player is the player who is most often late, or the youngest.
On your turn, do the following:
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Play the left or right card from your hand. You can't play the center card. Place the selected card face up on the table, forming a pile of cards you've played.
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Move your pawn clockwise exactly as many spaces as the number on the card you played (Count each space you enter, including spaces with another player's pawn.) If you played a joker, you can move any number of spaces from 1 to 5.
Note: If your movement would end on a space with another player's pawn, then keep moving to the next space until you enter a space without another pawn and stop there. A space can have only one pawn. (Exception: all pawns start on the same space during setup.)
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If your pawn stopped on a special space, then you must do that space's special action. (These are described on pages 11–15.) Some actions can make your pawn move further and stop on another special space.
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Draw the top card from your face-down draw pile and put it between the two cards in your hand.
The turn then passes to the next player (in clockwise order).
Passing the Hatter's Tea Party
Every time your pawn moves around the board and passes the Hatter's Tea Party space, you take the face-up large cookie next to this space. Place the cookie in front of you face up. (Each player's points are visible to all players.) Draw and reveal the next large cookie from the stack (if any are left) and place it face-up near the stack.
If your pawn stops on the Hatter's Tea Party space, do the space's special action, as usual with every special space (see Special spaces on page 11).
Example of a player's turn
- Lucy has cards 3, 4, 2 in her hand. She can only play her left card 3 or her right card 2. (She cannot play 4 because it's in the center of her cards.) Lucy plays her 3. Her Hatter moves 3 spaces, but on the space where she would stop, there is another pawn, the Queen of Hearts. So her pawn continues to the next space (the Cheshire Cat space) and stops there because it is empty.
- Lucy's pawn passed the Hatter's Tea Party space, so she takes the face-up large cookie (worth 3). She draws the next large cookie from the stack (2) to replace the cookie she took. She puts the 3 she played onto her pile of played cards, then draws the next card from her draw pile (it's a 5) and puts it between the two cards (4 & 2) in her hand.
- Lucy's pawn stopped on the Cheshire Cat space; its special action makes a pawn move again the same number of spaces that it just moved (see page 13). So she moves her pawn 3 spaces again. This time she does not stop on a special space, so her turn is over, and the turn passes to the player on her left.
End of the game
The game ends when each player has played all 11 of their cards. Players add up their points from large and small cookies (each small cookie is worth 1 point). Whoever has the highest score wins! In case of a tie, the tied player with the most large cookies (regardless of their printed values) wins. If there is still a tie, the player whose pawn has advanced farthest from the Hatter's Tea Party space wins.
Simpler Variant
When learning the game, you can play with open hands of cards, visible on the table, especially if children have trouble remembering that they cannot reorder their cards or play their center card. This way, you work together to follow the rules.
Variant for the youngest players
Players hold 2 cards instead of 3 in their hands. On a player's turn, they choose 1 of their 2 cards to play, then draw a new card from their draw pile to their hand. All other rules are unchanged.
Special spaces
Hatter's Tea Party
This is the starting space where all pawns start the game.
Each time your pawn PASSES this space, you take the face-up large cookie and place it in front of you. Then turn the next large cookie (if any) face up to replace the one you took.
Each time your pawn STOPS on this space, you choose to take the face-up large cookie or to take the face-down top large cookie from the stack. After you take it, you cannot change your mind.
Example: Lucy the Hatter stops on the Hatter's Tea Party space. The face-up cookie is worth 3 points. Lucy decides to take the face down cookie from the top of the stack, hoping that good luck will give her a more valuable cookie (their values range from 2 to 5). She takes the top cookie and reveals it: 5 points! This ends her turn.
Small cookies
Spin the spinner fast, so that it spins at least one time fully around. You have only one chance to spin each time you stop here. The number on the space where the spinner points when it stops is the number of small cookies you take from the pool and place in front of you on the table. If there are not enough cookies left to take, then take all the remaining cookies. When all small cookies have been taken, this space becomes an ordinary space with no special action. Each small cookie is worth 1 point.
Example: Lucy spins the spinner. When it stops, it is pointing at a space with 3 cookies. Only 2 small cookies are left to take, so she takes those last 2 only, instead of 3. From now on, the Small Cookies space is an ordinary space.
Caterpillar
If your pawn is small when it stops on this space, then put your large pawn on this space and remove your small pawn. If another player's large pawn is already on the board, they must replace it with their small pawn: there can be at most one large pawn on the board.
If your pawn is large when it stops on this space, then replace it with your small pawn. While your pawn is large, you may (if you want) add +1 to the number when you play a card (e.g. increasing 5 to 6). A large pawn (unlike a small pawn) does not fall down the Rabbit Hole: no special action happens to a large pawn on the Rabbit Hole.
Rabbit Hole: If your large pawn is on the Rabbit Hole space, and another player becomes large at the Caterpillar space, then your pawn becomes small. In this case, your small pawn immediately falls down the Rabbit Hole (immediately apply the Rabbit Hole special action on page 13).
Cheshire Cat
Move your pawn again as many spaces as the number on the card you just played. If you stop on another special space, then you trigger that space's special action!
Joker card: If you played a Joker card, then you must move your pawn again the same number of spaces that you chose when you played the Joker card.
Rabbit Hole: if you escape from the Rabbit Hole onto the Cheshire Cat's space, then move again as many spaces as the number on the card you played this turn (the card that showed the number of times you could spin the spinner).
Rabbit Hole
If your pawn is small, it falls down the Rabbit Hole and will have to escape out of it.
On your next turn, the card you play does NOT determine how many spaces you move your pawn. Instead, the number on the card you play tells how many times you can spin the spinner. (If you play a Joker, you can choose a number from 1 to 5.) Spin the spinner fast so it spins at least one time fully around.
Example: On her previous turn, Lucy the small Hatter fell down the Rabbit Hole. On this turn, Lucy plays her 3 card, so she can spin the spinner up to 3 times. She hopes having 3 chances to spin will be enough to succeed and move ahead to a good space.
After each spin, decide whether you want to accept that result or try another spin, unless it is your last spin, which you must accept. Then move your pawn clockwise, until it reaches the space at which the spinner points.
Special fields: If the pointed space you move to is any of the special spaces, then do its special action as usual. If your pawn passes the Hatter's Tea Party, take the face-up large cookie as usual! If it stops on the Hatter's Tea Party, take the face-up cookie or face-down cookie as usual.
Cheshire Cat: If the pointed space you move to is the Cheshire Cat, then move again as many spaces as the card you played this turn. If it was a Joker, then move as many spaces as the number you declared.
Note: If the spinner stops on the Rabbit Hole or on a space with another pawn, you cannot accept this result. You must spin again, if you have another try. If this was your last try, then you stay in the Rabbit Hole! On your next turn, you will try to leave again: follow the same procedure.
Remember: If your pawn is large, it does not fall down the Rabbit Hole. You treat the Rabbit Hole like an ordinary space and simply stop on the space with no effect.
Suggestion: Younger children may have difficulty with risk assessment. It may be helpful to play with an optional rule that if a player fails to escape the Rabbit Hole during their turn, then they may treat it like an ordinary space on their next turn, so they can play a card to move a number of spaces and leave the space.
Summary of special spaces
- Cheshire Cat: Move again using your last played card. If your pawn is small, it falls down the Rabbit Hole. In your next turn, play a card; its number is the maximum number of times you can spin the spinner.
- Rabbit Hole: You can accept a spin pointing at an empty space and move your pawn there (if it's special, do its action too, and also check if you pass the Hatter's Tea Party), or spin again. If your final spin points at an occupied space or the Rabbit Hole, you stay in the Rabbit Hole.
- Small cookies: Spin the spinner once and take the indicated number of small cookies.
- Caterpillar: Change the size of your pawn. If another pawn is large, it becomes small. A large pawn may add +1 to your card's movement number. A large pawn does not fall down the Rabbit Hole.
- Hatter's Tea Party: All pawns start the game here. If your pawn passes this space, take the face-up large cookie. If your pawn stops on this space, take the face-up large cookie or the top face-down cookie from the stack.